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"Ready?" I asked her

She nodded, her eyes welling with fear

We both started running, as fast as we could,hers until we both launched off of the roof and into the air

I landed on the roof below,in pain fro, they didn’t always hold up after a lot of wear and tear, and I i scratched up by the tar shingles

Violetta’s screah a second later

She had hit the roof, scraap to the ground below

I looked over the edge and saw her lying in a heap on the dirt alley, holding her arerously close Thecloser There was no ti the roof for a few steps, then juht, then launched off of that to the ground below

I ignoredankles and hurried over to her just as one of the men appeared at the rooftop I aiht in the head When he pitched off the roof and fell with a thud to the ground beside us, I dragged Violetta up to her feet There was no ti to hurt like a bitch, but it was better to be hurt than dead

"We have to run, okay?" I told her and she cried in response I had no idea if Camden or Javier even noticed eren’t behind theet us safe then we’d get to them

And then, then maybe I’d have a ether we sca from our feet, just as a bullet ricocheted fro our way toward the street, knowing the last asshole standing was firing at us from the roof

As soon as we hit the street that ran along the block of buildings, ere a tiny bit safer At least I figured since there was light traffic on the roads and people going to and fro However, despite the fact that I was running across the street and darting between the cars with Violetta in tow, both of us bruised, scratched and bleeding, un visible in one of my hands, no one really seemed to bat an eye I wondered how bad Mexico City was for crime then decided it didn’t matter

We ran up the sidewalk until I saw another alley then brought Violetta down that one and around the corner I stopped us beside a dumpster that sat behind a café, a couple of stray cats sleeping in the shade

"Violetta," I said to her, putting one hand on her good aret her to look at me Her cheeks et and dirty, asoftly "Violetta, listen to me Do you knoho those men were?"

She shook her head "No," she cried "I didn’t recognize theo toon It looked like he heard so out in the hallway He hid near the door and suddenly a group of "

"And you didn’t recognize the her head even more, her forehead scrunched in pain "No, I don’t know They looked like cartel men Bad men"

Obviously

"My arm, I think it’s broken," she whiet it fixed, but we have to get Camden and your brother"

"Screw Javier!" she yelped "He’s what got us into this in the first place"

I srimly "I know But you don’t mean that You can’t leave hiot I existed"

"And we’re better than that" I gave her a steady look, o back to your place–"

"No!" she cried out

"We’re going back to your place," I said,to find theone You can do this"

I stared at her for a few moments until she relented with a nod Then we moved down the alley that ran parallel to the main road until ere back on her street Jose was still sitting on the side of the road

Only now I realized that Javier had the car keys

"Fuck," I muttered

"What?"

"I have to hotwire it"

"So do it"

I gave her a wry look